Trader Joe's Macarons - or What are friends for?

If you don't know Paris Breakfast you MUST run over there at once!  Paris Breakfast travels to Paris several times a year in order to keep us on the cusp of everything French, with a particular emphasis on French pastries and macarons.  She selflessly researches, photographs, paints, and shares her findings with us.
When I recently told her that I now have access to Trader Joes, she mentioned that she has never tired TJ's macarons because she has to use public transit to and from TJ's.  I recognized my duty at once:  I went straight to TJ's and bought this box of vanilla and chocolate macarons.

By the time I got home with it - 20 minutes at 94 degrees- they had defrosted, and I carefull removed one of each flavor from the box.    Please note that the macs are NOT a uniform size.  Hmmmm. Uh-oh!  The vanilla shell top crumbled as soon as it touched it!  

I put them both to the taste test.  They were OK, a bit too sweet but I think that is because they're vanilla and chocolate.   I've never had a vanilla mac or a plain chocolate macaron.  Half the fun of macs is the gorgeous colors and exotic flavor combinations.  I think the flavors (like pistachio, passionfruit, chocolate with blackberry filling, etc.) cut the sweetness and add a bit of tang.

But back to that collapsing vanilla shell:  would a second mac crumble, too?  I tried it, and it DID!  Now I was on a mission, and I had to remove all of them from the package.  Egad!  Every last one of the vanillas crumbled.  You can't serve crumbled macs to guests.  I had to choke them all down.  Then I noticed the irregular sizes of the chocolate macs.  Those, too, would have to go.  Can't serve guests irregular macs.  But, hey Paris Breakfasts, what are friends for?